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Abyssal Crisis
The Abyssal Crisis is the central event upon which the Emerald Shards setting rests. This event is what allowed for the Spellplauge to be averted for this timeline. Pre-Crisis Pre-Crisis Toril was in all ways identical to the Toril which existed for countless years. The events leading up to the Abyssal Crisis began on the 15th of Eleint 1352 DR when the Ve'veri'kasari village of Alder's Branches was overwhelmed by a raiding party of Drow slavers. The Drow slavers captured the vast majority of all the squirrel like people, killing a full quarter of their population and raising Alder's Branches to the ground before retreating back into the Underdark. The Ve'veri'kasari taken as slaves were found to be highly valuable due to their species being small enough to fit into most spaces and their unique ability to retain color vision even in the darkest of places, making for excellent spies and scouts. One Ve'veri'kasari, a younger boy named Dannbludd Fortuna and his sister Hickory were sent to the Drow city of Los'morinth where they were made to farm the mushroom fields used to supply the city with food. Sometime in 1361 DR Dannbludd escaped the Drow and made it back to the surface, unfortunately leaving his sister behind. Vowing to gain the skills he would need to return to the Underdark, save his sister and then destroy the entire place so it would never again trouble another living soul. He took to the life of an Assassin, using all of his gained wealth to fund at first a simple rescue then eventually an invasion of the Hells themselves as he plotted and schemed a way to take his full revenge. After a decade of planning Dannbludd finally found a way to trigger a collapse of the Underdark which involved a series of planer gates to each of the hells. The gates would be built on key points of the Weave, so that when they were all collapsed by adventuring parties Dann himself hired a magical shockwave would distort the Weave itself the combined nine waves would trigger an earthquake so powerful it would collapse the Underdark. Unfortunately for Dann, in order to enact his plan he needed the knowledge of how to open such a gate and where these key points could be found. To accomplish this Dann sold his soul to Asmodeus, the Lord of the Hells receiving the knowledge he wished to possess as well as a gemstone which would slowly sap his life force and store it so he might give it to his sister to replace her lost time as a slave. Knowledge thus gained, but soul in jeopardy Dann modified his plan and created the gates so they were to be destroyed by passing thru the gates and slaying the Daemon Lords of each of the nine layers of Hell. The power vacuum left behind by the death of the demonic leaders Dann could simply slip away and his soul could find the afterlife of his choosing. By Ches 30th 1385 DR the gates save for one had been constructed, 8 of the nine adventuring parties recruited, Dann felt his life energy nearly depleted by the gemstone, it was time to move forwards with his plans. Constructing a fake gate Dann waited until some adventurers were called to the town of Daggerford to find out what was going on, and found himself leading a magically mutated male cat named Salem who was quite the powerful spellcaster, and a thief named Duskfang who was a daring Batfolk woman struck with amnesia. The party "discovered" the illusion hidden hell gate and disabled it, taking the real gate in the form of an obsidian cube to Baldur's Gate for inspection by the Court Wizard. Getting a gate set up on the Weave fault in Balder's Gate was something Dann had been unable to do himself, and Salem, Duskfang, and his own might he believed powerful enough to take on one of the Deamon Lords. With the gate inactive in the city and a strong team ready Dann snuck off one evening and activated the Gate beginning the Abyssal Crisis. The Abyssal Crisis The Abyssal Crisis began on the 29th of Tarkakh 1385 DR with the destruction of Baldur's Gate at the hands of thousands of Daemons of all varieties, and lasted for nearly 3 months. The destruction of Baldur's Gate was complete, very few made it out alive to flee to the hills and surrounding towns and cities seeking protection. Salem, Duskfang, and Dann were able to escape the cities demise thanks to hiding in one of the safe houses of a thieves guild untill a window of opportunity arose for Duskfang to fly the party to safety over the city walls. The party then decided to flee south to Candlekeep, hoping to use the magical messaging systems located there to contact other cities and ask for help. On the way to Candlekeep the party was joined by a feytouched owl named Noctus who had known Duskfang in her mysterious past and sought to make sure she was ok after being banished and mindwiped. The four arrived at their destination and were admitted into the Keep thanks to the Daemon invasion as Candlekeep was currently working to keep people safe. After a few days Candlekeep drew the attention of the Demonic forces and came under attack. The party managed to hold off the demonic invaders while a teleportation circle to Shadowdale was erected to get as much of Candlekeep's library as far from danger as possible. Eventually a Ballor took to the field and Dann, knowing his party would need to be inspired to journy into the Underdark and save his sister then slay their Daemon Lord to save himself used his remaining life energy to banish the Ballor back to the hells collapsing dead on the flagstones of Candlekeep's courtyard. Salem and Duskfang naturally went through their companions effects after his death and discovered magical recordings instructing them to travel to the Drow city of Los'morinth, free Dann's sister Hickory, then proceeded through a naturally occurring hellgate to Carnia, the 8th hell and make their way to the 9th layer to face down the Lord of all Evil himself. The evil of their companion exposed, but seeing no other way to close the portals, the two used some more of Dann's equipment to signal the teams the Ve'veri'kasari had assembled to begin their quest. Wanting to learn more about how to close hellgates Salem decided to stay at Candlekeep for a short time to study up on the magical gates, during this time two Duneswift Kobalds, a medic named Aaz and a Sniper named Meep arrived at Candlekeep, drawn by the signaling device Dann had set up to call the parties to action. The two joined the party as Noctus decided to stay behind, preferring to stay out of the Underdark regardless of the situation. Their former strength greatly increased by the addition of the technologically advanced Kobalds the party set out for an Underdark entrance and quickly began the decent into the underground realm on their quest. With the aid of Salem's unique plane-in-a-bag Duskfang was able to easily sneak her way threw the twisting maze of the Underdark's caverns, carrying the rest of her allies in the bag for a few weeks before stumbling across a Deep Gnome village. The village was being plagued by feral Driders and since according to maps left by Dann the four had to progress threw the cavern the Driders were nesting in they decided to help the village, Salem using his magecraft to shape loose rubble into proper walls before magically warding them to hide the village. Defenses constructed the party set out to slay the Driders and resume their march to Los'morinth. During the battle with the Driders the party was assisted by a Deep Gnome mage named Caz who managed to stun enough of the Driers to slow their advance from a narrow passageway, saving the party from being overwhelmed and allowing Salem and the Kobalds to finish off the Driders. Unfortunately during the battle Duskfang was bitten by one of the abominations, which had themselves escaped from a wizard's laboratory in Los'morinth and were carrying a deadly bio-magical weapon. She succumbed to the toxic bite and fell into unconsciousness forcing Salem to get aid from a cleric belonging to a group of Drow rebels operating in the area. The combined power of Salem, Aaz, and the cleric were able to prevent Dusk from transforming into a mindless green ooze, but unfortunately they were unable to prevent the weapon from working completely transforming Duskfang into a living, sentient, ooze able to keep up the appearance of her former self while being acidic and morphable. The complex magic needed to "cure" Duskfang had the effect of awakening latent powers inside Salem, allowing the feline to see the Weave itself and therefore vastly improving his magical abilities, especially his ability to enchant magical items. Once Dusk had recovered the party resumed their march and finally arrived at the underground city of Los'morinth. Unsure of where Hickory was, how to get her out of captivity, and how to escape capture themselves the four decided to sneak into one of the slave compounds outside the city and see if they could find any Ve'veri'kasari who could be of help. By sheer chance they managed to free a Ve'veri'kasari named Ginger who did know of Hickory thanks to the Ve'veri'kasari slaves sticking together in their own small community. She informed the party that Hickory was in fact an Artificer and was therefore being held in the Ruling Matron Mother's home in the center of the city where she was being made to create weapons for the Drow. Using their new abilities Salem and Dusk cased the home turned fortress, though were unable to find a way to enter with out setting off alarms until the tactically minded Ginger recommended they take the chimney down into a kitchen. With teamwork and stealth bards still sing of managed to sneak undetected into the basement vault-like workroom Hickory was being held in. The Ve'veri'kasari girl was quite mad, suffering a combination of Stockholm Syndrome and PTSD but after a brief fight she realized this was her chance to escape and after insisting Salem and Dusk take not only her notes, but tools, supplies for a personal project of hers, but also a Drow maid she had fallen in love with as this particular Drow, Sherri, was the only person to be nice to her in many years. It was at this time that a key realization occurred to Salem, there had to be a better way to close the gates then to pass threw them. Deciding not to enter the gate near the city the party instead chose to return to the surface world. Again, undetected, the two made their escape Dusk using magical boots to teleport back to Candlekeep, the only location in her boot's range she was familiar with enough to safely go to. Consulting the Monks of Candlekeep on who to ask about the hellgates it was recommended they seek the aid of a Cleric. Spending a few days within the library as they waited for a Cleric to arrive from their battles with marauding Daemons and to recover from their Underdark mission the party took the time to help acclimate Ginger, Hickory, and Sherri to the light of the surface world. Once the Cleric arrived, she informed the party of the reach of the Daemon invaders, of how many cities they had thus far raised and the state of the world, but was unable to offer any advice on how to close the gates stating that it was mages who would know how to close the gates. Greatly moved by the tales of suffering Salem, Dusk, Aaz, and Meep decided there was only one mage they could trust to know how to close the portals safely, without collapsing the Underdark and therefore harming the surface world as well. The party made for Shadowdale and the Old Mage himself, Elminster. The overland flight from Candlekeep to Shadowdale was uneventfull, and the party arrived withought delay after two weeks of hard travel, Duskfang using the bag once again and doing all of the real work, flying herself to exaustion. Finaly arriving in Shadowdale heedless of the warnings the party ran to Elminster's home and actualy were granted entrance. The Old Mage didn't feel up to helping stop the Deamons himself, the time simply wasn't right yet for him to interfere directly, however he did provide the information Salem would need to close the portal rather then destory it, thus preventing the shockwave. He also provided Dusk was some spelbooks as she showed a desire to learn magic for magic's sake and gave her a Celestial Ferret for a familar. The party swiftly made for the closest portal, which lay just outside of the Drow city Menzoberranzan. Along they way a wizard in the service of the Cult of Bane finally managed to catch up to the party. The Cult of Bane had hunted down the majority of the adventuring parties, seeking to keep the hell gates open at the whim of their god. He pulled Duskfang out of the air and threatened to kill the party before deciding to allow the 'greatest warrior who died on this spot' to do it for him. Said warrior turned out to be a Fae named Meeril, she quickly negotiated with the Wizard and took the deal that if she killed Salem and Dusk (the others had stayed hidden in Salem's bag to try and overwhelm the wizard with numbers and surprise) she would be given a new physical body. Meeril used her natural illusionary powers to trap Salem and Dusk inside an illusory labyrinth, they both figured out the maze was an illusion quite quickly but the ghostly Fae's power was too great for them to break out of the illusion. Being playful and mischievous by nature Meeril informed the party of her deal, and claimed that she just might get bored and let them go if they solved her maze. However once Salem and Dusk reached the center of the maze they were transported into another illusion, one of the clearing in which Meeril died. Remaining invisible the Fae began to attack the two intending to kill them to fill her part of the deal. Salem and Dusk's combined powers however were enough to subdue the Fae who switched allegiances after asking Salem if the wizard she had made the deal with could be trusted and deciding that it was too much of a pain to kill the two. After some diplomatic dealing Meeril agreed to join the party and stop the invading Daemons whom she knew nothing about previously. They quickly finished their journey to the closest Underdark entrance to Menzoberranzan which lay within the High Forrest. Before returning to the lightless underground world Salem and Dusk had the idea to send the other's of their party aside from their new Fae friend to Mithrill Hall, as the dwarvern stronghold lay not too far to the north. Once more making their way deep into the earth Salem, Dusk, and Meeril made it to the walls of Menzoberranzan and swiftly located the hellgate which by this point had an Unholy Citadel carved out from the walls of the Underdark itself. Sneaking past the hellish army which lay between them and the portal Salem, Dusk, and Meeril found themselves standing in a huge room, an empty thrones of obsidian standing before the swirling energies of the hellgate. As they approached the gate to close it the party was attacked by an avatar of Asmodeus himself who was intending to use the portal to take over the Material Plane and use its untapped power to return himself to godhood. The battle was intense, and Meeril lost her unlife to keep Salem and Dusk safe while Salem dispelled the magic of three large emeralds on the portal's pylons shattering them in the process. They managed to slay the avatar, only for a second to emerge from the closing portal. Before the Avatar could finish off the party however Salem managed to at last close the portal and with its final moments the Avatar delivered a message from the Master of the Hells informing them of the grim fate in store for them when they died before the Avatar disintegrated as its life was extinguished, ending the Abyssal Crisis on 5th of Flamerule 1385 DR. Post-Crisis Being a ghost Meeril was able to pull herself back together after a few hours and discovered her companions laying dying on the floor. Safely housing them inside Salem's plane-in-a-bag Meeril covered the two in ectoplasm she charged with positive energy, preventing them from dying and helping to heal their wounds. Dusk, being an ooze healed quickly and within two days was back on her feet. Deciding to make for Mythrill Hall to rejoin their companions the two found they were in fact sealed inside the inner sanctum of the citadel apparently meant to starve to death. Fortunately a war party of Dwarves from Mithrill Hall arrived and mined their way into the inner sanctum saving the party from their entrapment and taking the party back with them to their stronghold. At Mithrill Hall the party was hailed as hero's, and once King Bruenor Battlehammer had returned from the field of battle he knighted Salem, Duskfang, Meeril, Ginger, Aaz, and Hickory charging them to found an order of knights who would protect all of the people everywhere from any more disasters resulting from extraplaner creatures invading the mortal plane. Taking the name Knights of the Emerald Shards in memory of how they closed the gate, the newly formed Knight Order was given two million gold and a plot of land with which to start a keep up to use as their headquarters. With this money they created the keep Whitehaven Hold, and its village Windhollow Town within a small valley a days travel south of Mithrill Hall where they were contacted by an agent of Mystra. The goddess of magic felt she owed Salem a favor for adverting her demise, which she saw in the Weave as a possible past just after it would have occurred. This favor was used to create a ritual which would give the Knights magical powers so that anyone who had the heart to protect the world from the evils more powerful then the mortals could ever hope to be could face those evils in fair combat. To this day the Knights of the Emerald Shards have diligently fought off all demonic forces they have ever encountered.